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May 16, 2009

...We attended the Kentucky Gourd Society Art Show today at the Spencer County Elementary School. My mom, Jodi, and her 2 grandaughters attended with me. We saw everything from gourd musical instruments to a gourd that was decorated inside with a family room similar to a doll house lay out. There were snakes, long necks tied in knots, drums, jewelry pieces, Native American pieces, Africani pieces, and Central American designs. It is amazing the ways folks have come up with to decorate them.

...Of course I was drawn especially to the musical instruments. They have a gourd instrument demonstration but it was not on exhibit while we were there. I stopped at one booth and tuned a dulcimer for the maker but it did not play well. It would have been a real conversation piece for hanging on the wall though. The instruments in the photos won 1st place in the competition. The "picker" in the photo was also made of gourds!I took the pics with my cell phone so they are not very big and do not really do the items justice.I inquired as to the price of 2 dulcimers and they were $100 and $75. The price reflects the artistic quality rather than the musical quality and I respect the time and effort that the artists have put into their creations.For the fantasy folks, there were intricately carved and painted ceatures as well. ...There were many farmers in the parking lot selling truckloads of gourds of all shapes and sizes for those who prefer to do it themselves, yours truly included. One explained to us how he got his long neck to grow into a knot. I think I would like to grow some of my own first, but I purchased 1o little ones to make ornaments for next Christmas. I prefer to start out small! I also joined the Kentucky Gourd Society so I will hopefully be taking classes to learn how to do this in the future. Jodi and her grandaughter's found some gourds to take home to paint too, so a I am anxious to see what they have come up with! The following is a photo of them.

After the show we had pasta and pizza at Hometown Pizza in Mount Washington before returning home tired but happy, or at least I did, anyway. Have a good one!